SenorBeef Yes, that’s fairly common here. I intentionally avoid doing this. Pisses us off as much as the out-of-towners.
But calm down. Pittsburgh drivers are no worse than any others, once you learn the rules.
1- The Pittsburgh Left. Oncoming traffic will expect that you yield one car to go left before you go straight at a green light. You can violate this rule, but you must be “creeping” at the opposing yellow to make sure the other driver knows you don’t intend to yield.
2- Yes, we slow down to go through tunnels. Get used to it. I know it’s irrational, but I find myself doing the same thing no matter where I’m driving. Not because I’m afraid of “Tunnel Monsters”, but because I expect the driver in front of me to do so too.
3- Agressive driving. You mentioned that one person cut you off pulling out. What, they don’t have assholes where you come from? In my experience, the drivers here are extremely timid. Often at a merge, I will be astounded at the “holes” in traffic that people let pass by.
All in all, I really like my city. I’ve had four primary residences, all within Allegheny county. Would never trade the 2 years I lived on Polish Hill for anything. I look forward to meeting other Pittsburgh Dopers at some point.
Okay, wait, DoubleJ, I’m confused. I think I’m being whooshed (or is that “whoorshed” rahnd here?).
Are you talking about the “courtesy left,” where the first person in a line of people going straight through the intersection waits so that someone can turn left from the opposing direction? I was born here, but grew up in St. Louis, went to grad school in Connecticut, drove in Boston often enough, and never even heard of the courtesy left until I returned to Pittsburgh. Giving the courtesy left happens more here than anywhere I’ve seen. I must be being whoorshed.
Speeding? Here? You must not commute. How can you speed when you are sitting in traffic? Seriously, when I first got to Connecticut, I was passed on the highway by a friggin’ milk truck. I got good at taking the s-curves through Hartford at 75 mph. Did you move here from Erie? Ooops, I think you whooshed me again.
Here you are right - bicyclists and pedestrians have no problem placing themselves in front of traffic, and living to tell the tale regularly. Which speaks to the good driving here, rather than bad. If non-drivers pulled the shit they do here in the other places I’ve driven, there’d be a lot fewer non-drivers. In fact, Pittsburgh has the highest rate of people who jog through the intersection until they get in front of your car, as if they are establishing themselves like a basketball player ready to take the charge.
Try driving in Boston. Seriously. There are places there they haven’t even bothered to put the lines between lanes on the road. What’s a rotary, I asked innocently, my first time there. In high school in St. Louis, I laughed my ass off when one of the driver’s ed videos they showed had a person switching lanes without signaling. This was not a “don’t be this person” moment, either.
Perhaps, but St. Louis was the best place I’ve seen (followed closely by Kansas City) for having the cloverleaf interchanges where the entrance and exit lanes are the same fucking lanes!
In seriousness, if there are drivers who find the driving in Pittsburgh to be challenging or threatening, they simply should not be driving. Except on Sunday. With a phone book under their ass. Driving around here is about as dangerous and challenging as the Auto Race at Kennywood.
No, no, it wasn’t just a cut off - it was a guy trying to squeeze between me and a car I was traveling behind by like 10 feet on a completely otherwise empty road. It was just insane. If the brakes had been, say, 20% less efficient, I probably would’ve hit the guy.
I have driven around a number of cities … and Pittsburgh has the most tame drivers anywhere. Driving in Atlanta has instilled quite a few bad habits in me anb I find when I am back in Pgh that I need to unlearn them VERY quickly.
Nobody there (OK, very, very few, compared to Atl.) goes 80 when the speed limit goes 55 and people actually let you over when your lane ends! I am humming along getting ready to take my spot and every time it seems there is some smilin yinzer waving me in, where I was ready to take the spot – whether or not it was being offered.
Not sure what you’re asking here. I said I’ve seen the “courtesy left” (as you call it) in Pittsburgh and not where I’m from in NE Ohio. And it’s not a courtesy all of the time – I’ve seen more than a few drivers pull halfway into the intersection before the light even goes to a four-way red. So I think you just agreed with me.
Yeah, I’m fortunate enough to not come into town on 28; I live in Shadyside (ooooh, how wannabe trendy of me). Any time other than rush hour though, and my natural case of podius plumbumus just makes me blend right in.
True. I think it’s because here people are always waiting for somebody else to do something stupid, so drivers are always on their toes.
In the interest of fairness I should, but I’ll take a pass. I’ve heard enough horror stories to make me glad I drive here and not there.
Oh, those suck. There’s one non-cloverleaf instance of that near Robinson Town Center for the route 30 off-ramp, and I’m amazed there aren’t accidents there every day.
But then they’d miss the Stillers! Oh wait, I said that like it’s a bad thing
And finally:
Answer is dependant on whether you’re a straight female
For really stupid entrance-exit ramp tricks, try the Greentree entrance/exit on the inbound side of the Parkway West. I’m not talking about the entrance ramp over near Olive Garden, but the one further down off of Poplar Street, near that testing laboratory and the Greentree fire station. I hated that entrance, with it’s stop sign, with all my heart.
That stupid ramp configuration and trying to merge over to the left to get onto the outbound Liberty Bridge after entering from Seventh Avenue are about the only things I don’t miss about the 'Burgh.
Is it possible with all the high water? I heard that Light Up Night will go on, but the fireworks are moved from the river and some things are closed. I can’t make it anyway, so I hope those who do have a good time.
The high water shouldn’t be too big of a problem – the 10th St Bypass under the bridges was almost dry again as I was driving in this morning – I just don’t know if anyone else is going.
